COP28 Summit Strikes Deal To ‘Transition Away’ From Fossil Fuels

Around 200 countries on Wednesday, December 13, approved a deal, aiming at reducing global consumption of fossil fuels to avert the worst impacts of climate change, signaling the eventual end of the oil age at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) summit held in Dubai.

The summit, a first of its kind, struck a deal which meant to send a powerful signal to investors and policy-makers that the world is now united in its desire to break with fossil fuels, something scientists argue is the last best hope to avert climate catastrophe, news agency Routers reported.

With this deal, countries are now responsible for delivering on the agreements by formulating policies and investments accordingly.

EU Climate Chief, Wopke Hoekstra lauded the deal saying “Humanity has done what has been long overdue.”

“When we are long gone, our children and their children will be left to deal with all that we left behind. This is a day of solemn satisfaction. Humanity has done what has been long overdue,” he said.

The deal aims to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.”

Intensive sessions with all sorts of delegates went well into the small hours of Wednesday morning after the conference presidency’s initial document angered many countries by avoiding decisive calls for action on curbing warming. Then, the United Arab Emirates-led presidency presented delegates from nearly 200 nations with a new central document, Indian Express reports.

The long consultations over some of the contentious points in the draft global stocktake (GST) text helped arrive at a “palatable language” to most of them, Hindustan Times reported.

However, the summit has also called for tripling of renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, accelerating technologies such as carbon capture and storage that can clean up hard-to-decarbonize industries.